Thames Water faces financial turmoil

Thames water is due to go into administration if it does not receive an injection of funds

Transcript

00:00Thames Water Utilities Holding Limited, the parent company of Thames Water Group, England's

00:07largest water company, is set to run out of cash by March 24th and risks entering special

00:14administration if a judge does not approve its plans to inject £3bn to keep it afloat.

00:21The company has been struggling for a very long time and has accumulated unimaginable

00:26levels of debt over the last few years. It could be described as the backbone of water

00:31supply and treatment in the capital. But the company is in about £16bn of debt and needs

00:39£3.3bn over the next five years to keep running, with a restructuring bid marking an attempt

00:47to shore up its finances without a bailout from investors. Thames Water has also been

00:53at the centre of growing public outrage over the extent of pollution, rising bills, high

00:58dividends and executive bonuses at the UK's privatised water firms. The scheme is to inject

01:06more and more money into the company, known as the so-called Company Plan. This is supported

01:13by the majority of the utility's leading creditors and is being considered over a four-day hearing

01:19here in London at the moment. Tom Smith, the King's Council for Thames Water Group, previously

01:26told the court that the group's finances had deteriorated because of several factors, including

01:33operating with the oldest water pipes on average in the country and operating in an area where

01:41a larger proportion of properties have a basement.